Vocabulary Study
I'd like to be doing more with vocabulary. Here are some challenges, or untapped opportunities, I see in current practice:
- Assignments are rote, but they still take the teacher a long time to grade.
- Vocabulary acquisition is idiosyncratic, but vocabulary study is usually standardized.
I have been looking at Wordnet, a Princeton project to expose linguistic structures. For practical purposes, this will help me to automatically generate alternatives in multiple-choice tests which are not synonyms. Wordnet might also be an interesting tool for vocabulary study.
Teaching Within Frameworks
Today was full of exciting news! Google released an online app store, allowing developers to build apps around Google Docs, Gmail, Contacts, and Google Calendar. This is an attractive platform for collaborative teacher tools--I already use Google Docs for most of my handouts, my homework calendar, and my class slides. Winedark Web will be modular (you can turn on just the parts you want), and it might be interesting to allow teachers to publish much of their curriculum via Google Docs.
Communication with Parents and Students
Today I want to think about how we communicate student performance with parents and students. I'll save consideration of narrative feedback for another post, when I consider rubrics. For now, let's compare two representations of quantitative information regarding a student's performance:
- A standard grade report
- A grade report format I used when I taught at Palo Alto (doesn't work on older versions of Internet Explorer)
Cooperation and Competition at School
Today's focus is on emphasizing cooperation over competition in the classroom. I recently read a really interesting article from Wired's GeekDad column about the way we think about education. The author, Kevin Makice, draws on Alfie Kohn and Elizabeth Ostrom to argue that many of the policies and systems we use in education are short-sighted, and do not consider their own ultimate objectives. I was particularly impressed with Ostrom's research on non-competitive economic systems which can outcompete traditional systems in the marketplace. Her criteria for effective resource-sharing include:
- Clearly defined boundaries
- Localized rules for managing resources
Representing Student Data 1
Today I'm going to focus on how we represent student performance data to the three most important stakeholders: students, parents, and teachers.
Even after we have everything else in place, like lesson objectives and assessments that measure those objectives, the value of the information is lost if we cannot communicate it to the people who might act on it. I remember an argument I had with my dad a few years ago in which I was arguing that some of the most important things students could take from my classes were completely intangible. He argued back that anything worth doing can be measured. I didn't come around completely, but I did realize that if we understand something well enough to teach it, we should be able to measure it.
Why Winedark Web?
Do you know the saying, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"? I believe that the tools we use shape the way we think and the way we work. Our understanding of good teaching has come a long way in the last 50 years, but most tools available for teachers do not reflect progressive teaching philosophies. (There are exceptions -- turnitin.com is doing some neat things)